Synecdoche, New York (2008) is a movie I'm never going to be able to spell
It's kinda breathtaking to realize that you are not smart enough to get something. Kinda takes the weight off. Just right off the bat, confronted with a title, I must admit defeat because I can't even spell Synecdoche, New York even though I just did.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is a theater director in New York. He does pretty well and is offered the chance to put on whatever play he wants with an unlimited budget. He decides to… Wow I just got deja vu writing this and that's creepy. Except the last time I wrote this review I stopped writing this review and went to the library and it all gets hazy after that. Maybe I died. I guess I'll finish. Our theater director creates a complement, ongoing life as a play, casting people to play not only himself but people in real life and mirroring real life as the point.
The ball of string on this one becomes super tight. Charlie Kaufman is a genius because the tightening happens before we notice it. Of course he would cast someone as himself to act opposite the person he loves, but he casts someone as the person he loves so who does he love, really? The life mixes and matches until we all play the parts we are meant to.
Then we all go to the library an things get hazy. Maybe see this one with someone you can hold after.